1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to pneumatic paintball guns, also known as markers, and to a firing assembly for a paintball gun.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Paintball guns are known and are operable by a compressed gas supply. In the Jones U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,295 issued Nov. 11, 2003, there is described a pneumatic assembly for a paintball gun and a paintball gun having a gas storage area located outside of a firing valve and outside of the bolt. The firing valve is seated to seal off the compressed air in the air storage area from entering the releasing port. The bolt shifts rearward and the firing valve 16 moves back to unseat the sealing member from the releasing port 21a and compressed gas from the storage area enters the releasing port. In Jones US Patent Application published as 2005/0115550 on Jun. 2, 2005, there is described a paintball gun and a pneumatic assembly for a paintball gun in which a compressed air storage area is located outside of a bolt wall. When the bolt is open, compressed gas is prevented from passing through the bolt ports into the bolt. When the bolt is closed, compressed gas from the storage chamber located outside the bolt is permitted to flow through the bolt ports into the bolt. Even if the bolt is controlled, a pneumatic piston and movement of the pneumatic piston is controlled by a mechanical or electrical pneumatic valve. As the bolt moves forward toward a firing position, a paintball is loaded into the barrel. As the bolt ports slide past the sealing member, compressed gas flows through the bolt ports into the bolt to launch the paintball.
There is a constant quest in the paintball industry to design paintball guns that are smaller and lighter than previous guns in order to increase the ability and agility of the paintball players and also to make it less likely that a particular player is hit by a paintball from an opposing player as a hit on the paintball gun counts as a hit to the player. Previous guns have the compressed gas storage area located outside of the bolt that moves forward or back to open up access between a compressed air storage located outside of the bolt and an interior of the bolt. In those previous paintball guns that have compressed gas storage area that surrounds the bolt, the body of the gun must be large enough to house both the bolt and the storage area and is therefore much larger than the cross-sectional area of the bolt alone.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,483 issued to Lukas et al on Mar. 25, 1997, there is a complex series of air passages and storage chambers located outside of the piston that require a large housing for the gun to enclose the passages and chambers as well as the firing mechanism.